The fearless flyers of 'Spider-Man'

The first time Reeve Carney flew in the air -- without a boarding pass or flight attendants -- was last year, in a Las Vegas warehouse. Director Julie Taymor had erected a preliminary set, and the young rock band singer was strapped into a harness and hoisted skyward.

From up high, the ground looked . . . hard.

"It was kinda scary doing it over a cement floor," says Carney, who plays Peter Parker and Spider-Man in the Broadway musical. "I figured these guys know what they're doing. They wouldn't put their lead actor in the air without it being safe."

Carney now flies over audiences' heads at the Foxwoods Theatre six times a week. Matthew James Thomas, a Brit actor, takes over at the Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Both are eager for Tuesday, and the loooong-awaited opening night. They're not alone.

A history-making musical

Yep, "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" is finally opening, after a record-breaking $65 million (and counting) investment, plus two directors, two choreographers, five highly publicized actor injuries, six opening-night postponements, lousy reviews. And, oh yeah, music and lyrics by U2's Bono and The Edge.

The show seems critic-proof, hoisted -- like its actors, without a net -- into the cultural zeitgeist. Ask anybody from Wantagh to Walla Walla to name a Broadway musical and the an- swer will likely be "Spider-Man."

Such awareness is ultimately good for Broadway. Maybe. But the fact that many audience members see the show hoping to glimpse another injury seems troubling. To some.

Patrick Page, who plays scientist Norman Osborn and the villainous Green Goblin, downplays the danger. "This particular show was not the deathtrap it's been portrayed as being," Page says. "I've been in a lot of shows. Injuries happen."

True. Thomas himself was knocked unconscious at age 9 in a West End production of "Oliver!" More recently, Bobby Cannavale, star of "The ---- With the Hat," received stitches after hitting his head backstage.

Injuries or no, this seems a musical that's too big to fail, as the saying goes. When critics (and Twitter users) noted problems with the book and score, the producers called in focus groups. Then they shut down "Spidey" for three weeks, ousting Taymor and hiring a new "creative consultant" (Philip Wm. McKinley) and choreographer (Chase Brock). They promised changes.

Bruises and butterflies

At the start, Carney, Thomas and a squad of stunt men endured their share of bruises (until harnesses were adjusted). And butterflies.

"I was having ginger sweets for a good month," says Thomas, recalling the queasiness he felt on first learning to spin and flip. "Now I get to fly around like a lunatic," he says, noting that several safety technicians monitor his moves. "It's a dream job."

And a challenge. Imagine hanging 75 feet above the stage. Upside down. Now sing. "Normally, you want your larynx to be lower, but when you're upside down, gravity forces it toward your face," Carney says. "You have to relax to not put pressure on your vocal cords."

Each flyer has a custom-made suit sculpted to his body, with musculature added.

Thomas respects the suit. "I feel like I could go out and start saving children from burning buildings. It's the most exhilarating feeling."

No more Taymor

Less exhilarating was Taymor's departure.

Carney calls new director McKinley a friend and "new collaborator, but obviously we miss having Julie around."

Page, who played Scar in Taymor's "The Lion King," agrees. "I carry all her notes in my head."

The stars concur that McKinley and Brock handled the cast delicately, respecting the previous work. "Their ability to adapt in this complex situation is inspiring," Thomas notes.

The show, of course, retains a certain . . . reputation. It has still stopped (briefly) on occasion because of technical glitches, but such delays are rare now compared to the previous version. And that may happen even after opening -- unusual for Broadway, but not unreasonable, given the show's complicated workings. It's a hybrid -- part musical, part rock concert, part circus act.

"And in the circus, sometimes an acrobat falls," Page says. "Our audience instinctively understands that."

Maybe even . . . hopes for it.

Notions of NASCAR

The NASCAR mentality -- people showing up to see a crash -- is undeniable.

"People are getting hurt onstage? I wanna SEE it," mused one man, laughing with another audience member at a recent preview.

No biggie, Page says. That's the draw of live theater. "A movie plays exactly the same, beginning to end," he says. But with live humans, it's unpredictable. Sure, people may be titillated by risk, he admits. And if that's what gets them in the theater, it's OK by him.

Spidey meets Shakespeare

"People went to see Shakespeare for all different reasons," he says. "But they still saw 'Hamlet' and 'King Lear.' The great line at the end of 'Twelfth Night' is 'We'll strive to please you every day.' "

Spidey . . . compared to Shakespeare? Page, in his deep basso, with several works by the Bard on his resumé, sounds almost convincing.

Will "Spidey" change Broadway, coaxing more producers to invest only in Hollywood-brand juggernauts, or encouraging riskier stunts? It's too soon to tell.

For the moment, at least, it's changed Carney. "I'm a little more patient than before," he says. "I thought we'd be done rehearsing in December. It's June. I guess you kinda have to roll with the punches."

Or fly with them.

"If you don't know what to call it, I think that's great," Page says. "Is it a Broadway musical, a rock concert, a circus? I don't know. But it should thrill and entertain you."

The power of Peter Parker

BY FRANK LOVECE, Special to Newsday

Comic-book stories, like those of pulp fiction and dime novels before them, offer contemporary heroic myths. And just as every myth has a moral, so does that of Spider-Man: With great power comes great responsibility.

As Marvel Comics writer-

editor Stan Lee and artist and character-designer Steve Ditko related in "Amazing Fantasy" No. 15 (cover-dated August 1962), Peter Parker is a smart, bullied high-school student living with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in what is eventually specified as Forest Hills. Bitten by a radioactive spider, he discovers he has superhuman reflexes and agility, the "proportionate strength of a spider" and a "spider sense" that can detect imminent danger.

Donning a costume as Spider-Man, Peter begins to cash in as an entertainment novelty act. But when Ben is killed by a burglar during a home invasion -- a burglar, it turns out, whom Spider-Man could have captured sometime earlier but chose not to -- Peter's guilt leads him to turn Spider-Man into a superhero.

That pilot story led to the series "The Amazing Spider-Man" early the following year. There, in addition to fighting such supervillains as Electro, Dr. Octopus, the Sandman, the Vulture and his soon-to-be archnemesis the Green Goblin, Peter helps support his widowed aunt by becoming a photographer for the newspaper the Daily Bugle.

He graduates high school in issue No. 28 (September 1965) and enrolls in the fictional Empire State University, in Manhattan. There he meets Gwen Stacy, who will become his first great love. Her death at the Green Goblin's hands in issue No. 121 (June 1973) was a pivotal event.

Recovering from his grief, Peter, by now a grad student, marries model-actress Mary Jane Watson in "The Amazing Spider-Man Annual" No. 21 (1987). But in issue 545

(December 2007), the two make a bargain with a demon to save the dying Aunt May, creating a world in which they were never married, among other changes. Today, Peter is a scientist at Horizon Labs and dating NYPD criminologist Carlie Cooper.

Or at least all that's so in "The Amazing Spider-Man" comic book. The daily comic strip, the Broadway show and other media render details differently. But the power and responsibility thing? That's always there.

Timeline: Untangling 'Spider-Man's' web

JULY 12-13, 2007 First reading of musical

FEBRUARY 2009 Previews announced for Jan. 16, 2010, with opening date of Feb. 18, 2010.

JUNE 2009 Previews pushed to Feb. 25, 2010, opening to March. Evan Rachel Wood (as Mary Jane Watson) and Alan Cumming (as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin) sign on.

OCT. 22, 2009 Above dates suspended indefinitely.

MARCH-APRIL 2010 Wood leaves show because of delays; Cumming departs a month later.

AUG. 10, 2010 Second delay;previews now set for Nov. 14, with Dec. 21 opening.

MID-SEPTEMBER 2010 Unidentified Spider-Man stunt performer breaks both feet during rehearsal.

MID-OCTOBER 2010 Stunt Spider-Man Kevin Aubin breaks both wrists in stage accident during presentation for ticket brokers and group sales agents.

NOV. 4, 2010 Third delay; previews pushed to Nov. 28, opening to Jan. 11, 2011.

NOV. 28, 2010 First preview. Performance stops five times for technical reasons; an actor is suspended dangling above audience. Actress Natalie Mendoza suffers a concussion backstage when rope strikes her in head. She briefly remains in production, leaves and briefly returns Dec. 16, and after another hiatus formally departs show on Dec. 30.

DEC. 17, 2010 Opening night pushed to Feb. 7, 2011.

DEC. 20, 2010 Stunt Spider-Man Christopher Tierney badly injured in fall during performance.

JAN. 13, 2011 Opening delayed a fifth time, to March 15.

FEB. 7, 2011 Breaking precedent, New York theater critics weigh in on the show, citing record-setting delays while previews run at full price.

MARCH 11, 2011 Previews canceled from April 19 to May 11 to implement and rehearse major changes to show. Sixth opening date announced: June 14.

MAY 12, 2011 Previews of revamped show begin.